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Netherlands blocks US takeover of vital digital supplier

politico.eu

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Re: Netherlands blocks US takeover of vital digital supplier

#11

Post by monegator »

hvb2 wrote: post #7
mcv wrote: post #3

Finally! The entire country has been clamouring for this for weeks, and the government has been completely silent about it. A couple of weeks ago, the entire parliament (with only a single party dissenting) voted for a motion to end the contract with Solvinity, but the government extended it anyway, leaving blocking the takeover as the only option, and there wasn't a lot of confidence that the government would do tha…

> A couple of weeks ago, the entire parliament (with only a single party dissenting) voted for a motion to end the contract with Solvinity, but the government extended it anyway, leaving blocking the takeover as the only option, Given what we know now, this seems perfectly logical. It's just that we don't know what else is going on behind the scenes. I'm sure there was some negotiations on how to keep the data separa…

> I'm sure there was some negotiations

which i'm sure the current administration would honour

There should be grave consequences alone for the fact that the goverment acted against the parliament

Re: Netherlands blocks US takeover of vital digital supplier

#12

Post by NietTim »

petcat wrote: post #9

Good for them, but I doubt this will be the last we hear about this especially with the current US government. ASML was only permitted to acquire US company Cymer (the actually valuable EUV light source technology) back in 2013 under a strict technology sharing and export control agreement. The Netherlands blocking a US acquisition due to technology control concerns is sure to ruffle some feathers in Washington.

This is not some sort of company making unique tech, it's a company handling some of the most the vital infrastructure for our government, you can imagine the privacy concerns. Completely different case

Re: Netherlands blocks US takeover of vital digital supplier

#13

Post by spwa4 »

applfanboysbgon wrote: post #4

Good on the Dutch government for actually doing something.

All governments are "doing something". It just isn't at all effective and mostly because they're unwilling to invest even marginal amounts.

Like in this case. The technology here utterly depends on Google Play Services on Android or App Attest on Apple (or "secure enclave"), and that is in fact essentially the only functionality.

This could have been solved instead switching to a standard (switching to OATH, RFC 4226 and RFC 6238), thus killing the dependency on Google/Apple while still allowing those devices to work smoothly, but also allowing a Linux implementation, allowing anyone . Plenty of European companies provide implementations for this, some with and some without the dependency on Google/Apple attestation.

Re: Netherlands blocks US takeover of vital digital supplier

#14

Post by petcat »

NietTim wrote: post #12
petcat wrote: post #9

Good for them, but I doubt this will be the last we hear about this especially with the current US government. ASML was only permitted to acquire US company Cymer (the actually valuable EUV light source technology) back in 2013 under a strict technology sharing and export control agreement. The Netherlands blocking a US acquisition due to technology control concerns is sure to ruffle some feathers in Washington.

This is not some sort of company making unique tech, it's a company handling some of the most the vital infrastructure for our government, you can imagine the privacy concerns. Completely different case

Sure, but the point is that it's tit-for-tat. This US administration is petty.

Re: Netherlands blocks US takeover of vital digital supplier

#15

Post by wongarsu »

petcat wrote: post #9

Good for them, but I doubt this will be the last we hear about this especially with the current US government. ASML was only permitted to acquire US company Cymer (the actually valuable EUV light source technology) back in 2013 under a strict technology sharing and export control agreement. The Netherlands blocking a US acquisition due to technology control concerns is sure to ruffle some feathers in Washington.

In 2013, the same deal would likely have gone through. US-Dutch relations looked very different in 2013 under Obama than they look now under second-term Trump. Any reciprocity today based on things Obama did back then falls flat because we all know Trump opposes nearly everything Obama ever did

Re: Netherlands blocks US takeover of vital digital supplier

#16

Post by TacticalCoder »

mkj wrote: post #5

Solvinity is a pretty terrible company name.

> Solvinity is a pretty terrible company name.

I find it okay'ish. At least it's unique. Say, as much as I like Mario Zechner (who doesn't like HNers anymore for whatever reason), naming your product "Pi" is just terribly bad.

Facebook was a good name (hate the company but the name was good). But "Meta" is just dumbfucktarded.

Wait... I've got an idea: I'm going to make a product and name it "Alt". Or "Control".

Really: there are a lot of totally unhelpful name that just confuses everybody, including search engines, humans, and LLMs but I don't think "Solvinity" is that bad.

Re: Netherlands blocks US takeover of vital digital supplier

#17

Post by Vinnl »

spwa4 wrote: post #13
applfanboysbgon wrote: post #4

Good on the Dutch government for actually doing something.

All governments are "doing something". It just isn't at all effective and mostly because they're unwilling to invest even marginal amounts. Like in this case. The technology here utterly depends on Google Play Services on Android or App Attest on Apple (or "secure enclave"), and that is in fact essentially the only functionality. This could have been solved instead switching to a standard (switching to OATH, RFC 4226…

I can sign in to DigID without using my phone, except sometimes with an SMS verification code. (Of course they want to, and should, phase that out. Hopefully that won't be replaced by app store dependence.)

Re: Netherlands blocks US takeover of vital digital supplier

#18

Post by [deleted] »

spwa4 wrote: post #13
applfanboysbgon wrote: post #4

Good on the Dutch government for actually doing something.

All governments are "doing something". It just isn't at all effective and mostly because they're unwilling to invest even marginal amounts. Like in this case. The technology here utterly depends on Google Play Services on Android or App Attest on Apple (or "secure enclave"), and that is in fact essentially the only functionality. This could have been solved instead switching to a standard (switching to OATH, RFC 4226…

[deleted]

Re: Netherlands blocks US takeover of vital digital supplier

#19

Post by gpvos »

wongarsu wrote: post #15
petcat wrote: post #9

Good for them, but I doubt this will be the last we hear about this especially with the current US government. ASML was only permitted to acquire US company Cymer (the actually valuable EUV light source technology) back in 2013 under a strict technology sharing and export control agreement. The Netherlands blocking a US acquisition due to technology control concerns is sure to ruffle some feathers in Washington.

In 2013, the same deal would likely have gone through. US-Dutch relations looked very different in 2013 under Obama than they look now under second-term Trump. Any reciprocity today based on things Obama did back then falls flat because we all know Trump opposes nearly everything Obama ever did

Absolutely, no one would have batted an eyelid.
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